Mates bring woodcutter back from the dead

THE Warwick Warriors Woodcutters ventured out to Thane Monday morning, on a project to raise funds for a community project.

What they didn't expect, was to be raising the dead.

Long-time member of the group Ted "Wombat" Hawken suffered a heart attack while the group was chopping wood, but thanks to the quick-thinking efforts of the Warriors the 79-year-old is set to see another day.

"I just blacked out," Mr Hawken said from his Wesley Hospital bed.

"And when I came back there was big Jim O'Leary on my chest and Johno out there running the show."

Johno Felton said they were sure they'd lost their mate when his eyes rolled back, but weren't about to give up without a fight.

"We knew what to do and just did it," Mr Felton said.

"Wombat had told me that morning, 'If I cark it today, I've got this (nitroglycerin) spray in my pocket'.

"I grabbed that when he went down and sprayed it three times as you're supposed to.

"I got up and was on the phone to 000 and Jimmy (O'Leary) was doing CPR.

"Then Jimmy said, 'He's gone'.

"I was talking to the 000 lady on the phone, and she asked what his pulse was.

"I didn't need to check his pulse to know he didn't have one."

Then came the miracle.

"Saint Jimmy was quietly praying and we got (Mr Hawken's) mouth open again and gave another three good squirts and alleluia his pupils came back and he started breathing again," Mr Felton said.

Mr Hawken was rushed by paramedics to Warwick hospital, before being transported to Brisbane's Wesley Hospital.

The lucky survivor said doctors thought the heart attack was a result of being, "a little bit exhausted".

"Even the doctors up here were amazed, because of being so far out in the scrub and the time it took for the ambulance to there.

"It was rugged driving getting to me," he said.

Mr Felton praised the efforts of the emergency crews that were waved in to the bushland by Jim O'Leary.

"The girl on the end of the phone was great," he said.

"And the ambos got there in no time."

Mr Hawken said he was due to be released from hospital Saturday, and thanked his mates and the emergency crews who saved him.